A commonly prescribed drug used to treat gout may also offer some protection against colorectal cancer, according to a new study from researchers at the University of Michigan and in Israel.
The study found that patients taking allopurinol for at least five years experienced a two-thirds reduction in risk from colorectal cancer. It was reported during the American Association for Cancer Research Third Annual International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research in Seattle.
Allopurinol warrants further investigation in chemoprevention clinical trials of colorectal cancer, said Gad Rennert, M.D., Ph.D., director of the CHS National Cancer Control Center and Technion Public Health Forum in Haifa, Israel, who led the investigation with Stephen Gruber, M.D., MPH, Ph.D. from the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Results were based on the analysis of 1,781 patients from Northern Israel who were prescribed allopurinol and enrolled in the Molecular Epidemiology of Colorectal Cancer (MECC) Study group between 1998 and 2004. Use of the drug was measured by a structured, in-person interview, with responses matched to computerized prescription records.
The study took into consideration other known risk factors for colorectal cancer, including aspirin or other NSAID use, first-degree family history for colorectal cancer, ethnicity, sports activity and vegetable consumption.